As we all know, your garage door is exposed to the elements: heat from the sun, rainfall, snowfall, gusty winds and perhaps even hail. But those are just the natural elements, your garage door can take a battering from small accidents that perhaps you have caused; such as grazing over the sides or the electric eye with your car bumper. Whatever the case, you just have got to admire the tenacity of this piece of board that secures your car. And of course, you’d want your garage door to last you for a long time and so you need to have it maintained and the proper caring for it depends on the season. Today, let’s look at how you keep your garage door in tip-top shape during the summer season.

Before we get to the fixing part let’s take a look at a few factors that negatively impact your garage door during the summer season. Firstly, there’s the heat and humidity. While this may be a welcome change of season for us since it invites us to go to the beach or dive in your backyard pool, your garage door may not be too fond of these. The warmer temperature means some of the steel parts of your garage may expand and that means nuts and bolts have the ever so slight possibility of getting loose as well as anything that hinges on something. Another thing that’s sensitive to heat are the electronics. The extreme levels of summer heat may not take too kindly on your the wires and sensors of your devices. Another thing is the possibility of experiencing power surges. Everybody hates them, and your electronic gadgets, whether in the garage or not, hate it all the more. It’s best to have a surge protector around. But if you believe your garage door was hit by an electrical storm, it would be better for you to call for expert support. And finally, the one main thing that can have a huge impact on your garage door is direct sunlight itself. Aside from the heat from the sun alone that can expand things that it shouldn’t, sometimes, the mere heat of the sun can trigger a false positive on the sensors of your garage door and make it open when there isn’t anything there (or it could just be the ghost of your deceased neighbor playing tricks on you but we’ll leave that discussion for another day).

Now let’s go to troubleshooting garage door problems. First, we need to inspect the hardware on a regular basis. Look around thoroughly and spot any wear and tear that has accumulated over the year. Check the hinges and see if any of them got loose and go around the other visible parts. Make sure everything is aligned, especially the garage door. You can do this by opening the door halfway. If it’s not balanced, call the experts. Check and see if there are any holes, openings or tearing anywhere in the garage. Make sure to look for any nuts and bolts that are missing and promptly replace them. A simple check like this can make your garage door open and close smoothly and safely.

The next thing you’d want to do is clean the whole thing. The dirt and grease that have accumulated there may still have come from the last season or even last year. With this, you can use your tap water and some mild detergent. Scrub thoroughly to get rid of the dust, mold, grime, and mildew that have built up over the weeks and months.

After you’ve checked and replaced the unhinged parts, it’s time to lubricate the moving parts. Be sure to regularly lubricate the sides of your door with oil. You’d want your hardware to be lubricated at all times. You can detect if your hardware needs lubricating if you hear any screeching sounds and strange noises from the sides of your garage door. It would be best to use a 3 in 1 type of oil for your garage door. This ensures the longevity of the oil and it’s just an overall great option. With that said, never use grease or baby oil.

The last and definitely the most important is to do a routine check-up on the door itself. You can begin by opening and close the garage door to make sure it’s in perfect working order. You may even test the sensitivity of its drawing mechanism by placing a 2×4 block of wood down the middle of your garage door, then close the door. Once the lower edge of the door hits the wood the board should contract and re-open. If it doesn’t, recalibrate the force control limit.

We hope these few and simple to follow tips will help your garage door be in its best shape this summer season.

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Door Doctor Inc.

As a garage door company Door Doctor was founded in 1988 in the Greater Toronto area. Located close to Markham we have since expanded our services to include two additional locations; one in Barrie, serving the Simcoe area, and the other in Oshawa, servicing the Durham area.